This invention relates to rubber-tired loaders generally, and more particularly to an improved structure for mounting the boom cylinders and the lower hinge member of an articulated loader.
In the past it has been common practice to provide a reaction mounting for the boom cylinders by securing a tube to the tractor frame and inserting a solid shaft through the tube. The shaft extended beyond the tube on each side of the frame. The boom cylinders were then pivotally mounted on the protruding ends of the shaft. The centilevered ends of the shaft were subjected to high bending loads as a result of the reaction force created by hydraulic pressure in these cylinders. The bending loads are sometimes sufficiently high to cause plastic deformation in the shaft. When this occurs, extracting the shaft from the tube for repair is very difficult, often necessitating cutting both the tube and the shaft, such as with a burning torch, near the middle in order to effect removal of the shaft, thereby creating a need to reconstruct the tube to accommodate a new shaft.
In addition, the support structure for the lower hinge, when the loader is of the articulated type, has to be strong. The lower hinge must react loadings at various angles of the frame, while also reacting some of the forces due to turning as steering cylinders on each side of the frame extend and retract to articulate the loader. Since the loads were high and imposed from any one or several of a multitude of directions, the prior art structure mounting the lower hinge was heavy and expensive.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a support for the lower hinge which will be capable of resisting the various loads imposed thereon, and which is relatively light weight and inexpensive.
It is another object of this invention to provide such a support which possesses adequate strength and rigidity, and which cooperates with the boom cylinder support tube to provide a light weight and efficient structure for mounting both the lower hinge and the boom cylinders.
It is also an object of this invention to provide a boom cylinder support which will permit repair with relative ease and speed, which is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and maintain, and which will allow repair of one of the two boom cylinder pivotal mountings independent of the other.
It is a further object of this invention to provide such a boom cylinder support which cooperates with, and forms a part of the lower hinge support so that each support contributes to the strength and rigidity of the other .